The present invention relates to a hand tool, such as a hand cutting tool including tin snips or aviation snips.
Hand cutting tools often include two cutting blades that pivot with respect to each other to cut a work-piece. The cutting blades pivot with respect to each other to cut the work-piece by manually pivoting two handles of the cutting tool with respect to each other. In some hand cutting tools, such as tools where the handles and cutting blades are spring biased toward an open position, it is desirable to lock the handles in a closed position so that the blades do not open or spread apart when the cutting tool is not in use. Therefore, these types of hand cutting tools often include a handle lock that allows the user to lock the handles and cutting blades in the closed position.